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El Segundo CA (SPX) Mar 23, 2006 SpaceX now plans the first launch of its Falcon 1 rocket on Friday, March 23. "No major issues were discovered following (Sunday's) static fire," Elon Musk, the company's founder and chief executive officer, said in a statement early Thursday. "As a cautionary measure, we are going to take one more day to review data and verify system functionality. Launch is now scheduled for Friday at 1 p.m. California (Pacific) time." Previously, SpaceX had said it was aiming for a launch attempt on Thursday. "We had a great static fire," Elon Musk, the company's founder and chief executive officer, said in a statement. "Falson was held down for almost three seconds of thrust, part of which was under autonomous thrust vector control. All systems were green and no aborts were triggered." Musk said unless engineers discover a problem after a detailed analysis of the test-firing data, "launch will happen on Thursday at 1 p.m. California time." The launch plan is to accelerate the two-stage Falcon 1 to Mach 25, or 17,000 miles per hour, in less than 10 minutes, powered by liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene. If successful, the flight will be the first privately developed, liquid fueled rocket to reach orbit and the world's first all-new orbital rocket in over a decade. The main Merlin engine will be the first all-new U.S. hydrocarbon-powered engine for an orbital booster flown in 40 years, and only the second new U.S. booster engine of any kind in 25 years. Falcon 1 is currently the only semi-reusable orbital rocket in the world, apart from NASA's space shuttle. Priced at $6.7 million, Falcon 1 will provide the lowest cost per flight to orbit of any launch vehicle in the world. The maiden flight will take place from the Kwajalein Atoll of the Marshall Islands. The customer for this mission is DARPA and the U.S. Air Force. The payload will be FalconSat-2, part of the Air Force Academy's satellite program to measure space plasma, which can adversely affect space-based communications, including GPS and other civil and military communications. The rocket's target orbit is between 400 kilometers and 500 kilometers (250 miles to 300 miles), or just above the orbit of the International Space Station and at an inclination of 39 degrees. Related Links SpaceX
Launch Facility Donated To UQ For Scramjet Scientific Flights
Woomera, Australia (SPX) Mar 21, 2006The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has gifted an advanced rocket launcher to The University of Queensland this week for peaceful, scientific experiments. The launcher will be used in UQ-led experiments at Woomera, South Australia, in March, 2006 to develop scramjet technology as part of the HyShot international program.
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